Ziarnik, School & Public Libraries, Ch.1

From School and Public Libraries: Developing the Natural Alliance by Natalie Reif Ziarnik. Copyright  2003 by the American Library Association. All rights reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for nonprofit, educational purposes. Check out the book at the ALA Online Store (www.alastore.ala.org). An Abbreviated 1 History

THE PROGRESSIVE ERA (1890 TO 1920) Whether you identify yourself as a public librarian, school teacher, teacher- librarian, school librarian, media specialist, or information specialist, the roots of your profession became strongly established between 1890 and 1920, a time known as the Progressive Era. The fields of education and librarianship, as well as the sister fields of nursing and social work, developed their core values and professional standards during this period of great social progress in the United States. Members of these social welfare professions felt compelled to take action against the deplorable living conditions in American cities brought on by the economic depression of 1893. At the end of the nineteenth century, many people moved to cities. Rapid industrialization had created new factory and office jobs in the city for those who had lived in rural areas as well as for tens of thousands of recent immigrants. These new city inhabi- tants had to adjust to a different way of life. The working class was rou- tinely subjected to dangerous working conditions and resided in unsanitary tenement buildings. Masses of children were uneducated and illiterate. Communicable diseases spread rampantly because the general population had no knowledge of basic germ theory and the importance of cleanliness. Those living in rural America had their own set of problems: the lack of

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good roads and postal service to these areas inhibited access to essential materials, including books and newspapers. The middle class, especially educated middle-class women, were shocked at how miserable people’s lives were and aimed to improve conditions through social reform and through their participation in the welfare professions—social work, teaching, librarianship, and nursing. The women entering and defining these professions were still strongly influenced by the Victorian ideology of the domestic “angel of the house” in which women stayed within the safe confines of home and shared their “superior moral insight” with their families. As the Victorian period began to wane, many women, especially those who did not marry, left their domestic, private spheres for a more public life, organizing with others in a zealous effort to improve society: No longer confined to the private sphere, they now used their legendary powers of moral suasion and their social consciences in the public domain. Breathing the hope and optimism of the age, confident in their own abilities, they marched into the first two decades of the twentieth century. (Schneider 1993) In defining the helping professions and establishing professional associations and standards, these women pioneers fought against the notion that women were too weak or delicate to work outside the home. Yet, at the same time, they channeled their energy into areas often associated with their gender—educating, healing, and making a safe home for others. More and more middle-class women were graduating from college, where they were encouraged to contribute to society through work. In addition, since these women were usually unmarried, all of the love they would have directed toward a family was devoted to their work, which they saw as “social housekeeping.” All American teachers and librarians—whether male or female—share this common history and, as a consequence, common values that are just as strong today as they were one hundred years ago. The history of professions during the Progressive Era shows us how much public librarians, teachers, and school librarians (the latter being a combination of the two earlier established professions) have in common: all hoped and believed they could improve society through hard work, organization, and the education of the young. The can-do spirit of the Progressive Era naturally flourished in the fields of education and librarianship; less obviously, however, this same An Abbreviated History 3 spirit transformed the world of book publishing. As with the professions being in part a response to deplorable living and working conditions, the trends in publishing children’s books responded to mass-market literature of poor literary and moral quality. Instead of criticizing and forbidding the reading of this literature, children’s librarians and editors and writers of children’s books took a more positive approach: they created excellent literature and encouraged young people to read it. The critic Anne Lundin (1996) claims that the weaving together of the fields of education, librarianship, and publishing created a “peculiar synergy” that transformed the types of services and literature offered to children. Beginning in 1900, teachers and, especially, children’s librarians exerted their influence on the publication of quality children’s literature, creating what later became known as the Golden Age in American Children’s Literature (1900 to 1950). Children’s books modeled values “espoused by educated middle-class women . . . cooperation, friendship, acceptance, and tolerance on a personal, community, and international level” (Jenkins 1996). To promote the creation of books with these values, as well as with high literary quality and child appeal, children’s librarians communicated their needs to writers and publishers and were often instrumental in the success and failure of juvenile titles. Beginning in the Progressive Era and extending further into the twentieth century, librarians, teachers, writers, and publishers worked together to create and define excellent books and services for young people. The Golden Age of Children’s Literature, initiated during this optimistic period, was one of the most significant products of this peculiar synergy. As we look back in history, there are other great moments of cooperation, particularly when the fields of education and librarianship join forces, either consciously or unconsciously. Our history was also influenced by people with strong personalities working in different environments, developing their own philosophies about library service and education for young people and spreading their influence by training future professionals.

TRACING THE STORY OF PUBLIC LIBRARY–SCHOOL RELATIONS This section presents an overview of the contributions of the individuals who played major roles in the history of school–public library relations: Anne Carroll Moore, John Cotton Dana, Lutie Stearns, Mary Hall, Lucy 4 An Abbreviated History

Sprague Mitchell, Margaret Wise Brown, Margaret Batchelder, and Frances Henne. By looking back at the professional lives of these individuals, one can see that the missions of schools and libraries definitely overlapped. There were times of great cooperation and joining of forces followed by times of separation and specialization again followed by times of renewed cooperation. This fluctuation can be seen as a natural process as times change and professions continually redefine themselves to meet new chal- lenges. The pioneers of these professions tended to have strong opinions and greatly influenced the policies of the institutions in which they worked.

The Early Influences of Anne Carroll Moore (1900 to 1918) Anne Carroll Moore, one of the foremothers of children’s librarianship, worked in the midst of the peculiar synergy described earlier, using the strength of her powerful personality and convictions to define children’s public library services and to set the standards for quality literature for young people. Moore was trained as a librarian at Pratt Institute and then began her career as a children’s librarian at the Pratt Children’s Library in Brooklyn, New York. The Pratt Institute was an institution of higher education for future librarians and artists as well as for those planning to enter a wide variety of vocational work. In her job at the library, Moore worked first and foremost to establish the area as a pleasant, hospitable place that children would want to visit voluntarily. Even though Moore viewed the work of a children’s librarian as rooted in both education and social work, she insisted that the neighborhood library not resemble a school. This focus influenced her initial philosophy of school service. Moore (1902) was not prepared to send books to the schools or to supply “school duplicates.” Instead, she wished to encourage the teachers and children to visit the neighborhood library, where librarians would “give them every possible means of assistance in connection with their school work as well as in their general reading.” To persuade teachers and their students to visit the library, Moore and her staff began a series of visits to the local Brooklyn public schools. The purpose of these visits was to publicize the library, to become familiar with the schools’ environments, and to learn more about the reading ability of children in certain grades. Moore, who was not a big fan of schools in general, related incidents from these early difficult visits in her article “Visits to An Abbreviated History 5

Public Schools,” published in Library Journal in April 1902: letters sent to principals received little notice, the librarian was rushed through a speedy tour of the school and was not allowed to speak to the classes, and public library activities of interest to school children were rarely promoted. Today one might wonder why Anne Carroll Moore had so many problems. Were the principal and teachers too busy to pay attention to the librarian? Was Moore’s personality too assertive? Were the environments and culture of the public library and the schools too different from each other? Or had school curricula taken a step backwards, with no room for pleasure reading? With experience, Moore and her staff developed a better awareness of schools’ missions and curricula as well as an appreciation of the activities occurring during a typical school day. The Pratt Children’s Library refined its philosophy of school service, taking the first steps toward what we today call school outreach. One defining moment occurred during a school visit when a librarian from Pratt was denied permission to speak about a current exhibit at the library during the school’s opening exercises. With little hope of ever speaking with the school children, the librarian was beginning to leave the school when she heard music:

Looking through the stairway window she saw an old man, with the sun- niest smile, standing in the midst of a room full of happy-faced children and drawing his bow across his fiddle as if he loved it and could not help it. Presently they all began to sing, quite naturally and spontaneously. One felt at once, even through dingy glass, that the relations were absolutely harmonious between the children, the teacher, and the old violin player. (Moore 1902)

The old man’s smile, his intimate connection to his art, and the natural and joyous manner in which he shared music with the children inspired the librarians at Pratt to take on a more interactive and personal approach to their school visits. The following techniques and goals were incorpo- rated into the children’s librarian’s work:

• To show an obvious and natural love for their art/subject • To fill the need for beauty in children’s lives • To aspire to have harmonious relationships with teachers and students Anne Carroll Moore (1902) implored her staff “to so master the technique of [their] subject as to be able to present its essence as the violin 6 An Abbreviated History

player presented his melody.” And, what is this “essence” of a children’s librarian’s “subject”? While contemplating this episode, Moore came to the following conclusions:

Books must seem to us like real life, and human experience must seem like chapters from unwritten books. There is a certain technique of library visits to schools which seems to me to consist in taking things exactly as one finds them and adapting one’s self so completely and cheerfully to the situation, whether it means sitting in an office, standing in a passage way, rushing through classrooms, receiv- ing polite but immediate dismissal, or having pleasant talks with children and teachers, as to make it seem the most natural experience in the world while it lasts, and to make it the basis for future experiences. Theories, methods, the habit of looking too early for results, and above all, an aggressive or a too retiring personality, must be got rid of at any cost if we are to beget a love for books and win confidence and respect for our ways of giving them into the hands of those who want them, or who may be induced to want them.

Moore’s language suggests that public librarians had to walk a fine line between actively promoting their services and vision and lying low and waiting for children and teachers to come to them spontaneously. In addition, the emphasis on “adapting one’s self so completely and cheerfully,” having “pleasant talks,” and avoiding an “aggressive” personality may reflect Moore’s attempts at caution while crossing the boundary that sepa- rated schools from libraries. By merging gradually with the daily rhythms of the school day, visiting public librarians hoped to cause fewer disruptions and encounter less resistance. In an attempt to share the essence of their subject, Moore and her staff began incorporating storytelling and personal stories about books and libraries into their school visits. This change led to an emphasis on storytelling and book talks at the Pratt Children’s Library and also helped the librarians further define how their role differed from the role of a teacher. The distinction between “telling things”—whether folktales or personal stories—and “teaching” was crucial, as Moore felt that children resented “particularly in the freedom of the library, any hint of being purposefully and systematically instructed” (Sayers 1972). Although the library had resources for students and teachers, in Moore’s view, it should never come to resemble a school. Several years later, in 1914, when she was working at the New York Public Library (NYPL), Moore writes of this danger: An Abbreviated History 7

There is a great danger of turning a children’s library into a school grade extra by pushing of school work until library attendance ceases to be voluntary. On the day that everybody gets “sent” we lose the most valuable clause in our charter of liberty. (Moore quoted in Sayers 1972) Moore’s writings suggest that she did not see schools in a favorable light, although she was willing to acknowledge the expertise and talent of many teachers. Schools, in Moore’s opinion, resembled prisons where teachers and administrators treated students like inmates. On a librarian’s tour of one public school, she was rushed through the corridors at a breathless pace and wondered to herself, “How might one hope to pene- trate walls of apparent impenetrability and really come to know the inmates?” The next day, a child accompanied by some classmates visited the librarian at Pratt and said “When I saw our principal chase you through our school yesterday I thought I’d like to belong [to the library] again” (Moore 1902). For years, Anne Carroll Moore resisted sending library books to schools for use in the classroom. Yet, when she was head of the children’s room at the New York Public Library (1906 to 1941), she was forced to recognize that school services had become a major part of her staff’s work. She appointed a supervisor of service to schools in 1918 to coordinate activities and the loaning of books to teachers (Sayers 1972). Mabel Williams, a librarian from Massachusetts, helped Anne Carroll Moore develop the work the NYPL did with schools, declaring independence from school-type instruction within the library’s walls. Class visits to the library evolved, with more emphasis on spirited book talks and the promotion of voluntary reading.

The School Library Movement Begins (1890 to 1940) Although most librarians and teachers were women, administrative posts in institutions and in professional associations were predominantly held by men, such as Melvil Dewey and John Cotton Dana. While Dewey’s contributions have become legendary and are remembered on a daily basis through our use of the Dewey Decimal System, evidence of Dana’s influence has remained hidden in the historical records of the American Library Association (ALA) and the National Education Association (NEA). Dana, however, was greatly instrumental in providing solid library service to schools. 8 An Abbreviated History

Dana, who was trained as a lawyer and not as a librarian, fell into librarianship in 1889 at the Denver Public Library. Dana had previously written and published articles on a wide variety of topics, and his opinions on education became well known throughout Denver. The superintendent of the Denver public schools and the school board recognized Dana’s knowledge and potential and appointed him to be the librarian in charge of the public library being built as part of the East Denver High School building. This arrangement, with the public library being physically and administratively connected to the school, was not unheard of but was still unique. The library had three reading rooms and a museum and was located on the ground floor of the west wing of the East Denver High School (Pond 1982). Even though the library was funded through tax support from the Denver School District Number One, everyone referred to the library as the Denver Public Library. As a result of Dana’s strong interest in education, the Denver Public Library began lending collections of books to teachers for use as “school libraries” in their classrooms. These school libraries were really classroom collections of books on topics being covered in class. The arrangement in Denver was more the exception than the rule in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Overall, at this time few offi- cial school libraries or librarians existed in the United States. Those school collections that did exist were small because there was no steady source of income for library materials or staff; teachers and students did not have much access to supplementary books. Until school collections became established, public library service to schools was practical and necessary. Sometimes a teacher would act as the librarian at her school. Lutie Stearns, a self-proclaimed radical, taught school to seventy-two “fourth- reader” children in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the 1880s. The school had no library, and Stearns’s classroom had only one book. Stearns constructed bookcases out of soap boxes and filled them with donated books. She also earned money by giving stereopticon lectures on Germany and used the money to purchase periodicals for use in her classroom. In addition to setting up a permanent classroom library, Lutie Stearns went the extra mile for her students’ reading development by traveling to the Milwaukee Public Library every Thursday:

On Thursday evenings, accompanied by three boys with six market bas- kets, she took the “horse car” to the Milwaukee Public Library, where she borrowed two books for each child: one of “wholesome fiction” and one “along the lines through which the child might discover his life interest.” (Pawley 2000) An Abbreviated History 9

After providing this service to her students for two years, Lutie Stearns changed her career focus from teaching to librarianship and campaigned for the establishment of public and traveling libraries throughout Wisconsin. Surveys conducted in the 1890s show that two-thirds of public libraries in the United States and Canada allowed teachers to check out collections of books for their students to use in the classroom or at home and that one- third of public libraries sent librarians to the public schools to do classroom visits. Many of the larger public libraries employed one or more librarians to work exclusively with the public schools (Jenkins 1996). Mary E. Hall, the librarian at the Brooklyn Girls High School, was one of the strongest advocates for school library development and cooperation between the National Education Association and the American Library Association. In 1915, she and other school librarians successfully lobbied to establish the School Library Section. This section enabled school librarians to become organized and make contacts, helping the specialized profession come into its own during the twenties and thirties. Hall defined the school librarian as a “unique and essential educator working with other educators” (Barron 1995). School librarians began emphasizing their roles as leaders and managers in their schools. To foster use of media, these teacher-librarians needed to work hand in hand with classroom teachers, developing curricular units together. School librarians worked toward standardizing their professional goals across the country, yet no consistent pattern emerged. Library and school districts developed local plans to best meet the information needs of their communities. In Illinois, for example, the Haven School library functioned as a branch of the Evanston Public Library for the community after the school closed for the day. When the school librarian, Mildred L. Batchelder, finished work at the end of the school day, public librarians came in to take her place for the late afternoon and evening. This arrangement resulted from cooperative efforts of the public library and the board of education. The public library hoped the school superintendents would see how valuable school libraries were, leading to funds to cover materials and operating costs. Batchelder, whose notable career was only in its infancy during her time at Haven School, felt that after the public library demonstrated the value and need for a school library, it should “get out and let the schools take over their own libraries” (Anderson 1981). Many school librarians longed for independence and the opportunity to establish their own identity as a profession. School and public libraries, as distinct institutions, had different missions, leading the librarians working at these institutions to develop specialized work patterns, values, and objectives. 10 An Abbreviated History

Influences from Outside Librarianship (1920 to 1940) Meanwhile, developments in educational philosophy and changing trends in the publishing of books for youth exerted their influence on both public and school librarians. Lucy Sprague Mitchell was a reformer interested in progressive education. Beginning in 1919 Mitchell committed herself to the development of the Bank Street School in New York City. The school was experimental in nature and emphasized observing early child development, especially in the acquisition of language, paying special note to rhythm, rhyme, and other musical elements. While working and playing with young children in the Bank Street’s nursery school, Mitchell listened to the children, collected thousands of their linguistic fragments, and ana- lyzed the relationship between language development and a child’s emerg- ing identity. If one looks back at the history of literature, one finds that nursery or Mother Goose rhymes were often sung to babies and children. Ancient oral stories such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were sung by a bard, whose per- formances combined music and the rhyme and rhythm of language. Folk and fairy tales, which also originated from oral tradition, often include short rhymes and songs that are repeated (sometimes with variations) throughout the story. If one has ever told a folktale with one of these rhymes or songs, one has noticed that children remember and repeat those sections for weeks after they have heard the story. Mitchell’s attention to the musical and playful aspects of language led her to disagree with the theories of noted child psychologists such as Jean Piaget. In Mitchell’s view, Piaget believed that children outgrew the love of rhythm, sound quality, and playfulness in their language as they learned to use words to be understood by others. When children used language for semantic meaning instead of for play, they had reached a more mature developmental level. Mitchell, in contrast, claimed that when children were permitted to express themselves freely, they continued playing with language and rhythms as they grew older: To Piaget, this dropping of art elements from language is progress, is overcoming of immaturity. To me it is tragedy, for to me a child’s pleasure in rhythm, sound quality and pattern is the seed from which literature grows. (Mitchell quoted in Marcus 1992) Mitchell’s emphasis on the art elements in language may remind one of Anne Carroll Moore’s aesthetic focus in her work as a librarian: in col- An Abbreviated History 11 lection development, Moore demanded aesthetic excellence in the books chosen for the library’s collection; in school visits, she drew parallels between the work of the librarian and that of the musician, asking that the librarians strive to imitate the violin player, who was at one with his art; and, finally, Moore encouraged her staff to learn the art of storytelling and hired expert storytellers to be part of the permanent staff at the New York Public Library. Although both Moore and Mitchell recognized the importance of art and aesthetics in children’s development, they held opposing views on the types of literature made available to the young. Mitchell, whose educational ideals broke away from the traditional notion that children needed only les- sons in discipline, the three Rs, and civics, also advocated the creation of a new kind of literature for the young. In 1921 Mitchell’s Here and Now Story Book was published. It included stories written in the repetitive, playful language Mitchell heard children using themselves. Most notably, the stories took place in an urban envi- ronment. Leonard Marcus (1992) describes how Mitchell’s stories chal- lenged accepted notions of appropriate literature for children: Much of children’s literature of the period remained rooted in nineteenth- century Romanticism, with its idealized imagery of the happy child at home in harmonious natural surroundings. In stark contrast, Mitchell’s stories about skyscrapers and airplanes, tugboats and trolleys acknowl- edged the demographic and social reality that in 1921 the majority of American children lived in cities. Before Mitchell’s research and writing at Bank Street, librarians and publishers widely believed that the literature of long ago, including fairy tales and myths, was the best introduction to literature. When the Here and Now Story Book appeared, Anne Carroll Moore condemned it as poor literature. Mitchell admitted that she herself did not have excellent writing talent or ability and declared that the great writer of “Here and Now” stories was still to be found (Marcus 1992). Margaret Wise Brown, who joined the Bank Street School as a student teacher in 1935, became the great writer Mitchell had needed to write the “Here and Now” stories. Brown began writing children’s books during creative writing seminars led by Mitchell at Bank Street; some of her early titles include When the Wind Blew, Bumble Bugs and Elephants: A Big and Little Book, and The Little Fireman. Having observed children for two years at Bank Street, Brown had developed a close connection to children’s 12 An Abbreviated History

interests and psychology, often on an unconscious level. Unlike Mitchell, Margaret Wise Brown paid close attention to her own unconscious, inner life. She noted and examined the content of her dreams and felt that these types of inner resources should never be ignored by a writer. Even though Brown’s stories differ greatly from fairy tales and myths, they exhibit a strong concern for the child’s inner self. The “Here and Now” stories by Lucy Sprague Mitchell and Margaret Wise Brown, having been critiqued by Anne Carroll Moore, often did not receive positive reviews. Through her position as head of the children’s room at the New York Public Library, Anne Carroll Moore had a tremen- dous impact on the types of books being published for youth:

Under Moore’s leadership the selection of books for the Central Children’s Room was never a casual affair. A New York Public Library purchase order soon came to be regarded as a major critical endorsement. In 1911 Moore formalized the matter, and greatly enhanced her power, by issuing the first of the library’s annual fall lists of new books recom- mended for holiday gift giving. Such was her reputation nationally that inclusion on the list all but assured a book a respectable sale; omission might just as easily mean oblivion. (Marcus 1992) In addition to endorsing or denouncing titles, Moore also exerted her influence by passing on her criteria to those she trained. These followers later became responsible for the selection of children’s books at New York City’s branch libraries as well as at public libraries throughout the country. The New York Public Library’s Central Children’s Room housed a spec- tacular display of rare editions of fairy tales. Traditional tales, myths, fan- tasies, and legends helped, Moore believed, children reach “higher truths.” The “Here and Now” stories, by contrast, were grounded in scientific theories, which Moore thought destroyed aesthetic creation. Leonard Marcus (1992) describes Moore’s and Mitchell’s philosophical differences: The librarian was a moral idealist who regarded childhood as a fixed state of innocence to be shielded from, rather than shaped by, historical change and environmental factors. Moore remained deeply suspicious of Mitchell’s empirically grounded—and thus relativistic—“modern” approach to literature and education. Mitchell, for her part, was convinced that people like Moore lived in a sentimental dreamworld. On one side of this debate, Moore and her followers emphasized the inner child and the child’s imaginative life, which could be enriched An Abbreviated History 13 through exposure to traditional literature such as fairy tales, myths, and legends. Mitchell and other progressive educators argued in favor of stories representing children’s lived experiences. While teachers used Mitchell’s Here and Now Story Book in their classrooms, children’s rooms at public libraries offered story times featuring the retelling of folk and fairy tales. The debate was often referred to as the Fairy Tale War and was much discussed at conferences and written about in library journals during the 1930s. In examining the children’s librarians’ viewpoint, it is important to remember the fervor of those establishing the profession during the Progressive Era. These librarians worked with missionary zeal to help edu- cate and enrich the lives of children living in poverty—those experiencing the worst in squalid city conditions. By providing quality literature and pleasant surroundings in the public library, children’s librarians strove to offer hope and eventual escape from the harsh realities of city life. When the “Here and Now” stories first appeared, the idea of representing reality, which for many was a dangerous, noisy, disease-infested city, ran counter to the Progressive Era mission to inspire hope and optimism. On the other hand, the “Here and Now” books did not emphasize negative aspects but instead focused on a child’s open and enthusiastic view of exciting, contemporary city life. The issue of realism in youth literature was and continues to be complex. Frances Clarke Sayers, who began her career as a children’s librarian at the New York Public Library under Anne Carroll Moore and later taught children’s literature at the University of California at Berkeley’s library school, gave a speech in 1937 entitled “Lose Not the Nightingale” on the power of imaginative literature for children. This speech was in response to the newer, realistic books coming out for children. Sayers’s speech was so popular among children’s librarians that it had to go into a third printing. Christine Jenkins (1996) describes some of the interpretations of this speech:

Some saw the “real nightingale” of children’s literature as the salvation of humanity in a soulless world of industry and war; to them the cry to “lose not the nightingale” spoke of their determination to hold onto spiritual values at a time of stress and dislocation. Others, however, questioned the wisdom of taking the time to listen to the real nightingale in a world that appeared to be rushing into another world war. Of what good was a real nightingale, however sweetly it sang, if it did not give children the information they needed about the all-too-real world of poverty, violence, and injustice that lay right outside their door? 14 An Abbreviated History

Over time, teachers and both school and public librarians reached a consensus, acknowledging that a variety of literary genres—fairy tales, fan- tasy, realistic fiction, biographies, picture books on construction trucks and airplanes—play a role in meeting the psychological and educational needs of youth. Yet it is important to note that this point of tension in the 1920s and 1930s had far-reaching consequences for those in the fields of education and librarianship. One’s position on the definition of quality literature for youth could, at this time, show allegiance to a particular profession. School librarians began to ally themselves more with teachers and with what teachers felt their students needed (that is, “here and now” books as well as titles helpful for teaching reading). Studies show, however, that both types of librarians bought basically the same books for their libraries (Jenkins 1995). Yet, the fact that school librarians saw themselves and their profession as different from public librarians and their profession was one of the key factors leading to tension between the two groups.

School and Public Librarians Go Their Separate Ways (1940 to 1960) In her position as Chief of the School and Children’s Library Division and later as the Executive Secretary of the Division of Libraries for Children and Young People (DLCYP), Mildred Batchelder worked ceaselessly as an advocate and source of information for both school and public children’s librarians. During these years (1936 to 1966) working at ALA headquar- ters, Batchelder emphasized the related rather than the distinct aspects of these professions’ missions. She saw great value in public children’s librarians and school librarians spending time together, sharing ideas, and dis- covering ways to cooperate. Throughout her long career, she was consistent on one crucial point: all librarians, no matter what their specialty or place of work, could benefit from seeing their work as part of the larger whole of librarianship in general; just as school and public librarians should not alienate themselves from each other, public youth services librarians needed to be careful not to isolate themselves from the rest of the staff at their libraries. Although Batchelder contributed much to the development of school librarianship as a profession, many school librarians did not share her uni- fying philosophy. During the war years, new leaders in school librarianship emerged and strongly asserted that school librarians and public children’s librarians had distinct roles and responsibilities; this was a time for acknowl- An Abbreviated History 15 edging differences rather than noting similarities. Mary Hall’s early vision of the school librarian as a “unique and essential educator working with other educators” became the vision of many. School librarians emphasized their roles as leaders and managers as well as the importance of integrating curriculum and media in the schools (Barron 1995). During the promotion of and the justification for school libraries in the 1930s and 1940s, tension between school and public librarians increased exponentially. Part of this tension resulted from economic factors. Having less money after the Depression, taxpayers were less willing to support both school and public libraries. As a result, each institution had to defend itself. During this defense, issues on professional jurisdiction and philosophical differences between school and public libraries came to the forefront. Frances Henne, a librarian at the University of Chicago Laboratory High School, said that many librarians believed that the children’s department at the public library was a “vestigial remain” and that all library services for children should be transferred to the schools (Anderson 1981). Unfor- tunately, some public library administrators held the same belief and hoped that funding that was being used for youth materials could be transferred to develop better adult collections. Batchelder seriously questioned this turn of events and urged school and public librarians to clarify their roles, shift their objectives as libraries changed, and work together to expand and improve library services for children, whether those children were in or out of school. Cooperation was also urged by Robert D. Leigh, a political scientist who headed a study in the late 1940s called the Public Library Inquiry to discover how public libraries contributed to society. The publications of his findings on the various levels of school-library cooperation led to heated discussion and debate. During numerous talks about his findings, Leigh asked school and public librarians to end their competition by striving toward common wages and common training. He also tried to reassure them by stating that youth needed cooperative library services provided by both school and public libraries. Even though Leigh encouraged public and school librarians to work together, his findings and talks underscored the differences between the two groups: He commended public children’s librarians for their superior knowledge of children’s literature, and commended school librarians’ superior salaries, benefits, and vacations. Not surprisingly, Leigh’s comments raised the hackles of both school and public librarians. . . . While the Public Library Inquiry certainly did not create the split between school and 16 An Abbreviated History

public librarians, the report, with its lack of research on services to children and young people and its recommendations for increased school library service, served to heighten tensions between the two groups. (Jenkins 1995) School librarians allied themselves with teachers and distanced themselves from public librarians by emphasizing their role in curriculum and instruction. Frances Henne supported a “problem-centered curriculum” that emphasized contemporary social issues. This curriculum required that teachers and students move away from total dependence on textbooks and use supplementary materials from the school library (Jenkins 1995). The school librarians’ role in this type of curriculum necessitated their becom- ing more involved in educational associations and coming to understand the needs of teachers. Unrest grew among school librarians because they sensed that others— including public children’s librarians, administrators at ALA, and teachers—did not understand their issues and problems. This growing unrest soon led to rebellion, stimulated by the ALA reform to restructure and reduce the number of divisions in the association. Although the reform, for the most part, did not come to pass, the school librarians did establish a separate division in ALA, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), in 1951. In the process, they also fired Mildred Batchelder as their executive secretary and hoped for a fresh start with new leadership. Even though Batchelder had devoted much of her professional life to advocating for and developing school librarianship, the school librarians felt that she sided with the public librarians during any conflict over status within ALA when, in fact, Batchelder only hoped to keep all librarians working with youth in contact with one another, in a unified organization. Batchelder, who had worked hard to establish harmony among these librarians, was deeply hurt when the AASL informed her that they did not want her to represent them. Public librarians tended to view this separatist movement negatively, having long believed that youth librarians had gained strength through unity. In dividing into two separate groups, they would lose what they had gained through cooperation. They also saw Frances Henne, who believed library service to children should be handled by the schools, as an enemy to the profession (Anderson 1981). School librarians, by contrast, held affection and respect for Henne because she understood their struggles and represented their point of view. During this time of strife, many association members concentrated so much on organizational status that they overlooked what school and public An Abbreviated History 17 librarians had in common and failed to notice that Batchelder and Henne and the groups they represented actually held the same viewpoints on pri- mary issues: placing the right book into the hand of the right child at the right time, advocating for intellectual freedom, promoting quality literature, and encouraging lifelong use of the library for continued learning.

The Blackboard Curtain and Beyond (1960 to Today) As the preceding brief history illustrates, the missions of public children’s librarians and school librarians were closely interwoven yet still distin- guishable. If we define the unique characteristics of each specialty, we notice different emphases in mission but no clear-cut boundaries. The public librarian tended to focus on encouraging youth to read for pleasure. Public library children’s rooms were welcoming places where children would come voluntarily to pursue their interests independently. By exploring high-quality books, children would come to know beauty and art and have joyful experiences at the library. The concept of freedom— whether freedom from a schedule, from a prescribed lesson, or from required reading lists—was at the heart of public library faith. Youth were encouraged to come and go spontaneously, to find their own rhythm of visiting the library, and to browse the shelves and choose their own books. By making their own choices, young patrons developed skills in discrimination and judgment. If help was needed, the librarian was readily available to suggest an appropriate book or help find material for a homework assignment. This librarian was not, however, the same type of authority figure as a teacher or parent but, instead, more closely resembled an older sister, brother, aunt, or uncle who was knowledgeable about books for youth. The school setting required school librarians to align their mission with the overall mission of the school. Mary Hall’s concept of a “unique and essential educator working with other educators” to integrate curriculum and media proved to be greatly influential from the time of Hall’s presi- dency of the NEA Library Department in 1912 through the twentieth century. In a 1966 article entitled “Learning to Learn in School Libraries,” Henne expands Hall’s vision by explaining how this “unique and essential educator” could play a central role in the school: Serves on school’s curriculum committee, plans with administrators and teachers Teaches students how to use library and its resources 18 An Abbreviated History

Analyzes assignments and curricular content in order to determine the types of study and research skills that need to be taught Teaches students how to use audiovisual equipment, how to view, listen, perceive, and evaluate In general, a school librarian has been and continues to be joined— body, mind, and spirit—to the school curriculum, with most of her work being dictated in some way by that curriculum. The school librarian also encourages students to read for pleasure and keeps track of students’ interests, recommending books to expand and develop those interests. In the previously mentioned article, Frances Henne emphasizes the school librarian’s proximity to the students and the opportunity for him or her to observe students’ abilities and interests carefully and offer personal guidance. She claims that much lack of staff in school libraries has “led to an over-emphasis on teaching and requiring students to work independently in libraries” (Henne 1966). We find this theory of close guidance resurfac- ing again today in the discussion of the school’s in loco parentis role and Internet filtering issues. Tensions between school and public librarians continued in the 1960s and 1970s partially due to the growth of population in the United States. Babies born in the post–World War II era had grown up to be elementary- and high-school students. These students began coming in droves to the public library after school to hang out and to work on their homework assignments. Since public libraries were not equipped to cope with this increased business, many new policies were instituted that negatively affected service to students. This lack of service came to be known as the “blackboard curtain.” In the introduction to her book Creating the Full- Service Homework Center in Your Library, Cindy Mediavilla (2001) describes how students were treated in the 1960s and 1970s:

According to findings revealed at the 1967 American Library Association (ALA) Conference, young people’s borrowing privileges were being restricted nationwide. Reference service to students was curtailed or denied altogether; library use permits were required from teachers or parents or both; teenagers were limited to certain hours and areas of the library; and boys and girls in many towns were not allowed to use their local libraries on the same evening. This “student problem” arose out of exhaustion on the part of public librarians attempting to meet an unprecedented demand for their services. An Abbreviated History 19

In addition, the tension between school and public librarians most likely contributed to confused roles and attitudes. Tired public librarians began to place responsibility on school libraries, assuming they could fill all the educational needs of students. Some librarians even thought that school and homework support at public libraries would be detrimental to the further development of school libraries. During the 1980s rapid technology changes forced librarians to see the interrelationships of the services offered by all libraries, whether school, academic, or public. Today, in the age of the “library without walls,” we all depend on one another, linking to one another’s’ Web sites and sharing electronic resources. In addition, the public library has, in general, accepted its role in literacy training and homework assistance. One hopeful sign of school–public library cooperation is the flourishing of homework centers in public libraries across the country. As the public librarian incorporates the mission of providing resources at the public library for students to complete homework assignments, the school librarian promotes reading for pleasure through storytelling, free reading time, Poetry Month, and Battle of the Books. Yet, school librarians have many new responsibilities, especially those related to computers. They now may rely more heavily on public librarians to promote reading for pleasure in their communities. Public libraries also have their limita- tions. Even though the public librarian continues to stay up-to-date on the local schools’ curricula and purchases materials accordingly, curriculum support is only one of a public library’s many roles. The youth services department in a public library must also provide materials for preschoolers and parents, as well as materials on non-school-related topics to fill other informational needs—whether those needs are educational, recreational, or spiritual. To fill this wide variety of needs, public libraries generally (but not always, depending on funding) rely on the school libraries to provide pri- mary service to teachers and students on school-related projects. The public library does, however, try to have as many materials as possible on hand to help with standard homework assignments and may have other supplementary materials available for independent research projects. So the missions of school and public librarians do not contradict each other but are, instead, complementary. The next chapter outlines the typical strengths of school and public libraries and describes how we can make use of those strengths on a daily basis to serve youth better.